The question I have always asked my family when they are tasting a new recipe ;)

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Vanilla Chiffon Roll

The week I made this recipe I needed a diversion. My daughter left to study abroad for the spring semester in London, England and although I was very excited for her, it was a bit unsettling as we waited to hear that all was good! I can now report she has hit the ground running and loving the city and all the sights! 🙂

This recipe was a bit deceiving…it didn’t sound all that difficult but as you got into it there were many steps and it used MANY bowls, appliances, and utensils!! Just to go through it quickly this is what I encountered:

Made the cake batter which included

sifting the dry ingredients (with my new sifter!)

whisking the egg yolks, oil, water, and vanilla

mix the yolk mixture and dry ingredients together

Meanwhile

whipping the egg whites into thick, shiny peaks

gently fold 1/3 of whites into the yolk mixture and then all of it together

I poured the batter into the prepared pan and baked for the 12 minutes. My cake puffed up pretty good. I wasn’t sure if that was what it was suppose to do. After I took it out and let it cool it fell considerably but looked more like what I expected.

Made the mousse

Put the walnuts and oil in the food processor creating a paste

Added the melted chocolate and set aside

Made the simple sugar syrup and gradually added it to the egg yolks whisking without stopping

Fit that bowl over a make shift double boiler and whisked the mixture until foamy and hot to the touch

Then beat the mixture on high until pale and holds a soft ribbon…and it cool to the touch.

fold in the reserved nut mixture

whip the heavy cream and fold it delicately into the walnut mixture and refigerate

I have never made chocolate mousse and I would have to say I was very proud of myself! It tasted great and looked correct…light and fluffy!

Assemble the cake

Un-mold, trim, and flip the cake

Spread the chilled mousse evenly

Roll the cake and chill for at least two hours

I think mine had too much chocolate mousse in the middle and didn’t become a pretty roll but I didn’t hear anyone complain about too much mousse. 🙂

Finishing the cake

Sprinkle the top of the roll with sifted cocoa powder to create a pattern

Add candied walnuts..which I made from scratch following the recipe in the back of the cookbook. That was an interesting process….I kept feeling like I needed to add liquid to the sugar to get it going. Totally burned two of my fingertips removing the walnuts from the fork and placing on the wax paper. I won’t make that mistake again!!

I would say this whole process took me about 3 hours. Nothing about it was particularly hard, but it took time with so many steps. I was happy to do it and everyone enjoyed tasting it, BUT I can’t see myself ever making this again. I would be so stressed out making this for an occasion of some sort. It just took too long and as my son said, “It is really good Mom, but not great. Probably not worth it for the time it took you”…haha. I think he is right. 😉

That is how my blog was born. Our daughter spent Jan term (studying one subject for the month of January) in India. I had to do something to keep my mind busy, or I would have gone totally crazy. She, traveling with no forms of communication – cell phone and laptop left at home – by choice. (Drove me nuts!) Thankfully, her Professor authored a blog himself about the trip, and when they were in an area where they visited an internet cafe, I was able to catch-up with how the trip was going. Your slice looks lovely. I’m sure your daughter is having a fabulous time.